LAST UPDATE | 10 Apr 2021

THE NUMBER OF patients being treated in Irish hospitals for Covid-19 has fallen to its lowest level since mid-December.

Data published on the HSE’s Daily Operations website shows that there were 200 coronavirus patients in hospital at 8pm last night, with HSE CEO Paul Reid saying this morning that the figure had risen to 201.

The number of patients with Covid-19 being treated in the country’s intensive care units has also fallen.

There are also 51 people with Covid-19 in intensive care units. Of these, 30 were receiving ventilation care at 6.30pm last night.

It follows the publication of data by the Central Statistics Office yesterday which shows that the proportion of hospital cases of Covid-19 among over-65s has fallen from 18% in the week ending 29 January to 6% last week.

HSE CEO Paul Reid described the figures as a “good start to the weekend”.

“We could be on a good trend with the early benefits of the vaccines reducing the sickness levels for the most vulnerable. The light is shining a little brighter for now,” he tweeted.

Five new walk-in Covid-19 test centres are to open today, three in Dublin and one each in Limerick and Waterford.

The walk-in centres test asymptomatic people who wish to get tested as part of efforts to identify the wider spread of Covid-19 in the community. Details about where they are located can be found here.

Medically vulnerable

GP’s are also set to begin the vaccination of medically vulnerable people this week.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Saturday with Katie Hannon, the chairperson of the GP Committee of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) Dr Denis McCauley has said that the vast majority of GP’s will be involved.

Hospitals and vaccination centres have already been administering the vaccine to the medically vulnerable, but Dr McCauley has said that the majority of medically vulnerable people only attend their GP.

“They’re very high risk people. There are a number of them who attend the hospital, which is fine, but the actual majority of them attend only their GP, so we can identify and it seems logical that we will vaccinate them,” said Dr McCauley

While some practices have received doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, Dr McCauley said that IMO members were contacted to hold off on administering the doses due to expected advice from the National Immunisation Advisory Committee (NIAC) next week.

It comes after NIAC met yesterday and on Thursday to discuss whether or not new guidelines around the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine are needed, following a report by the Heath Products Regulatory Agency of a rare blood clot in someone who received the vaccine.

Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally